


An Inhumane Work

by empirebeyondtheseas



Series: Amidst the Ceaseless Darkness [1]
Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rebuild of Evangelion | Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - World War II, Gen, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25384333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empirebeyondtheseas/pseuds/empirebeyondtheseas
Summary: Kōzō Fuyutsuki wonders what will become of him and Yui's boy. All he know now is that they should not stay in the desolation that had once been Hiroshima.(Gendō Rokubungi wonders what had become of Shinji and the Katsuragi girl. All he know now is that he would never see them again—for the sun rose twice over Nagasaki.)
Series: Amidst the Ceaseless Darkness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838368
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. War is Destructive

Rumours spread fast. His legs not so.

Hiroshima had been flattened by a new American weapon, so he heard. The fact that the Rokubungi residence has been unreachable seemed to confirm this.

He wouldn't have risked the journey if it was not for Yui. Still, he tried to convince himself it's something else, like compassion. Maybe. (Lying to himself won't get him anywhere, yet he still did.)

It's been a day. Her son (Shinji, wasn't it?) might've died, yet he's adamant on going—only after preparing anything he might need on the way.

He's not terribly rich, but no one is. Japan had been unraveling for months under relentless bombing. An invasion is bound to happen, soon.

(He's never under any illusion that Japan would last. The China "incident", as the Army had put it, seemed never-ending, yet Japan went to war against the British and the Americans. Japan will inevitably fall, it's only a matter of time.)

He's not sure this will all end quickly, though. Japan had never truly lost a war against a foreign power, or at least not yet. Not even the ceaseless rain of destruction had cowed Japan in, so far.

(He won't lie that the bombs were a boon; it allowed him to pose as a medical professional by virtue of his academic credibility—he needs the money. Why the Army let him be is still something of a mystery though.)

As Hiroshima looms ever closer with each step, he wonders where Gendo is. While he is closer to Hiroshima than Nagasaki, Gendo will surely come for his child... right?

Well, whatever. If he happens to find the man, so be it. If the man's dead, so be it. It won't dissuade him from looking for Yui's son; he has to know. For Yui.

Hiroshima is in ruins, and its people even more so. Terrible, but this is the price of war, he reasoned. The Army was ruthless in China according to foreign reporters. Probably just as ruthless in the former Western colonies. An eye for an eye, perhaps. (Damned those Army warmongers.)

He found the kid sleeping, crawled up on the floor of Gendo's house, beside a partially charred corpse; definitely dehydrated, clearly starving. Resting himself, he knows they have to get out, and soon. Nothing feels normal, even the rainwater here is black; everything is in chaos. He'll rest; give the kid time. They probably have to go in the dark—there's no need for the kid to see more corpses, flayed or otherwise.

He rested the kid sitting against the wall, unclasping his fingers from a cross necklace he has been grasping tightly—one he presumed to have belonged to the corpse. No, not corpse, it's Misato, according the kid, Shinji, after he woke up.

(Her kid didn't seem to care much for his father; then again, Gendo alienates everyone).

Fuyutsuki would've offered a prayer for this Misato, but the cross dissuaded him. No matter, then, for he thanked her all the same. (She'd saved Shinji, after all.)

The boy's almost inconsolable, even after sleeping for more than a day. Misato, Fuyutsuki assumed, had been the one taking care of Shinji while Gendo's away. Pushed him inside the house as the blast came about. (Truly brave.)

Thankfully the food helped; the water he'd brought even more so. The kid's famished—probably would've died if he arrived a day longer. He then dozed off.

It's evening when he woke up. Shinji had gone back to sleep beside him. However sheltered they are here, they need to leave; can't exactly drink black water. He was going to cremate Misato, but starting a fire would be dangerous. Burying her was less of an option, he didn't have the energy to move her around.

Thus they abandoned the Rokubungi residence. One Kōzō Fuyutsuki left Hiroshima with one despondent Shinji Rokubungi in tow. (He personally thinks Shinji Ikari sounds much nicer.)

He's no parent, but he's going to be damned if he leaves Shinji now. If for nothing else, his memories of Yui will ensure that. 


	2. The Ending World

Death, he decides, is quite poetic.

One moment saw him returning from the outskirts of Nagasaki. The next? The sun had risen again.

He had heard of Hiroshima; figured that Shinji and the Katsuragi girl are both dead. (His mind suggested otherwise.)

No use going to a wasteland for to see a couple of corpses, is what he had thought. (His heart whispered differently.)

That he has to face the same fate as they had must be retribution from the heavens.

He does not make an attempt to run. (He's scared.)

He does not make an attempt to hide. (He's afraid.)

He wonders whether Yui will forgive him if he really has left Shinji to die. ("I'm sorry, Shinji.")

Gendo Rokubungi is—for once—truly sorry; it would never matter, however, for the shockwave swept his apologies away.


End file.
